[72]
Such are the rules for the exordium, wherever it
is employed. It may however sometimes be dispensed with. For occasionally it is superfluous, if
the judge has been sufficiently prepared for our
speech without it or if the case is such as to render
[p. 47]
such preparation unnecessary. Aristotle1 indeed
says that with good judges the exordium is entirely
unnecessary. Sometimes however it is impossible
to employ it, even if we desire to do so, when,
for instance, the judge is much occupied, when time
is short or superior authority forces us to embark
upon the subject right away.
1 Rhet. iii. 14.
Quintilian. With An English Translation. Harold Edgeworth Butler. Cambridge. Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1921.
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